Filip Lesniak (born 14 May 1996) is a Slovak professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Georgian club

Telavi Telavi ( ka, თელავი ) is the main city and administrative center of Georgia's eastern province of Kakheti. Its population consists of some 19,629 inhabitants (as of the year 2014). The city is located on the foothills of the Tsiv-Gombo ...

Career

Tottenham Hotspur

Lesniak started his football career at

FC VSS Košice FC VSS Košice was a Slovak football club based in Košice which played in the Slovak 2. Liga during the 2016–17 season. The club officially ceased operations on 27 July 2017. The club, founded in 1903, has won the Slovak League twice, the S ...

in Slovakia before joining the

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

youth academy in January 2012. After progressing through the ranks of the Tottenham Hotspur Academy, Lesniak signed his first professional contract with the club in July 2014. At the start of the 2016-17 season Lesniak signed a loan move to

Slovan Liberec FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won three league titles and the domesti ...

in the Czech Republic. On 31 July 2016 he made his football league debut against

FK Mladá Boleslav FK Mladá Boleslav is a Czech football club based in the city of Mladá Boleslav . The club currently plays in the Czech First League. Mladá Boleslav were runners up in the 2005–06 Czech First League and went on to play in the 2006–07 UEFA ...

. Lesniak only made two more appearances for Liberec a debut in European football

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualifying round against Admira Wacker Mödling and one domestic cup match. He returned to Tottenham on 31 December 2016. He made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut on 18 May 2017 against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, providing an assist to

Harry Kane Harry Edward Kane (born 28 July 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Tottenham Hotspur and captains the England national team. A prolific goalscorer with strong link play, Kane is regarded as one of ...

who completed his fourth

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

of the season. He had been released by Tottenham Hotspur along with 5 other academy players after the expiry of his contract on 9 June 2017.

Aalborg BK

Lesniak moved to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

side AaB on 4 July 2017, signing a three-year contract. Upon joining the club, Lesniak was joined up by his compatriot

Jakub Sylvestr Jakub Sylvestr (born 2 February 1989) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a forward. He made six appearances for the Slovakia national team. Career Sylvestr scored his first hat-trick in a match against Tatran Prešov on 4 April 2 ...

. Lesniak made his Aalborg BK debut, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Magnus Christensen Magnus Christensen (born 20 August 1997) is a Danish professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Norwegian Eliteserien club FK Haugesund, Haugesund. Club career AaB Christensen was born in Frederikshavn, Denmark ...

, in a 4-1 loss against

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Danish sport corporation. They have a football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female based in Aabenraa) and an ice hockey team (S ...

in the second game of the season. On 12 July 2019, he was loaned out to

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

until the end of the season.

Wisła Płock

On 29 July 2020, he joined Polish club

Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (''Wisła Płock S.A.''), commonly referred to as Wisła Płock (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Płock, Masovian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national foot ...

. On 6 February 2024, he left Wisła by mutual consent.

Telavi

On 15 February 2024,

Erovnuli Liga The Erovnuli Liga ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა - lit. National League) is the top division of professional football in Georgia. Since 1990, it has been organized by the Professional Football League of Georgia and Georgian Football F ...

club

announced the signing of eleven new players, including Lesniak.

International career

Lesinak represented Slovakia U17, having played in

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

and

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

, and Slovakia U19. In March 2016, Lesinak was called up by Slovakia U21 and made his debut, in a 4–0 win over Estonia U21.

Career Statistics

Personal

Lesniak' grandfather, Ján Kozák, was a national player. He has 55 caps for

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and was also head coach of

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. His uncle is Ján Kozák jr.

References

External links

Tottenham profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lesniak, Filip 1996 births Footballers from Košice Living people Slovak men's footballers Slovakia men's youth international footballers Slovakia men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Slovak expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Georgia (country) Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Poland Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Georgia (country) Premier League players Slovak First Football League players Danish Superliga players Ekstraklasa players I liga players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players FC Slovan Liberec players AaB Fodbold players Silkeborg IF players Wisła Płock players FC Telavi players